American jurist, son of Dr. Samuel Johnson; born in Stratford, CT, on the 7th of October 1727; was graduated from Yale in 1740, and was admitted to the bar in 1746; in 1761, and again in 1765, represented Stratford, CT, in the general assembly. In the latter year he was chosen a member of the First Colonial Congress which met to consider the Stamp Act, and in 1766 was sent to the upper house, or governor’s council of Connecticut; in 1772 became a judge of the superior court, but held office only a few months; from 1784 to 1787 was a member of the Continental Congress. When hostilities broke out between Great Britain and the colonies, he retired to Stratford, being unwilling to give his support to the latter. After peace had been concluded, he was placed at the head of the Connecticut delegation to the Constitutional Convention, and in 1789 became the first United States Senator from Connecticut. From 1787 to 1800 he was president of Columbia College, and after his resignation from this office, lived at Stratford until his death on the 14th of November 1819. The Rev. E. Edwards Beardsley wrote his Life (1876).
